Tony Smith (Casey, Liberal Party, Parliamentary Secretary to the Prime Minister) Share this | Hansard source

Can I first address the long preamble or the remarks of the member for Grayndler before the question. I point out that, in his latest and last contribution, he again illustrates and highlights his utter hypocrisy on this issue and the Labor Party’s hypocrisy on this issue. He cannot bring himself to mention the names Bob Hawke and Graham Richardson and the fundraisers that are detailed in Marian Wilkinson’s book The Fixer. He greets this with complete silence as if he has never heard of former Prime Minister Hawke or former Minister Richardson from his own state.

My understanding is that the member for Grayndler should have no difficulty criticising former Minister Richardson. But let me just point out again his complete inability to criticise, even in the mildest sense, what can only be regarded as an outrageous misuse by that former Labor minister and the former Labor Prime Minister. Let us recall the details in that book, which were relayed to the House last week, of $10,000, $20,000, $30,000, maybe even $100,000 back in 1987. What would those dollars be worth today, 20 years on? They would be worth significantly more.

I neglected to mention the other feature I recall from that revelation last week in the House of Representatives that, specifically, those guests invited to that dinner were asked not to provide the cheques to the Australian Labor Party until after the election—I will stand to be corrected, but I think the book also said this—thereby ensuring that some disclosure provisions could be circumvented. I think that is what the book said. At that time, I am not sure who the federal director, or in Labor’s language their campaign director, was; but it may well have been—and I will stand to be corrected—the member for Fraser in 1987. Is that right? The election was in July. So we have a situation of great hypocrisy here.

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